Air Asia

By Lynne_c

On behalf of the passengers of Air Asia X flight D7 2686 from Kuala Lumpur to Incheon, Seoul on September 2, 2011, I would like to share our experience about a delay that cost us more than 10 hours and the shabby treatment that Air Asia extends to its paying customers.

The chronology of the events are as follows:

The flight, D7 2686 was initially supposed to take off at 11.00pm and reach Incheon at 6.00am the next day.

11.00pm - Captain of the flight announced a delay due to a route change which requires the plane to upload 2 tonnes of fuel. The reason given was non-approval from ATP for clearance from Ho Chi Minh to Taipei.
12.00 midnight - Captain announces another plan change, requiring the uplifting of 1 tonnes of fuel from the plane.
1.00am - The plane was waiting by the runway to take off when the Captain announced clearance from Taipei and said that he would decide in 2 or 3 minutes if he would repark the plane.
1.30am - Captain re-parked the plane at the terminal
1.50am - Passengers were told to disembark to T18 by the Captain
2.30am - After more than 3 hours stranded in the plane, the passengers were finally allowed to disembark to T18 where everyone rushed to the rest room or to purchase much needed food and drinks
3.30am - Cold croissant and cold mineral water were distributed to the passengers.
4.00am - Some of the Korean guests requested for blankets for their children. The passengers were told that the plane will take off by 5.00am
5.00am - A new announcement was made that the plane will take off by 7.30am
6.00am - Two of the passengers cancelled their tickets and left
7.00am - One of the Managers assured the passengers that the plane will take off by 7.30am. A second Manager then said that Air Asia could extend our flight to another day. But he could not qualify for food and accommodation.
7.30am - The passengers were asked to re-board the plane.
8.00am - The plane reversed out of the parking bay and was parked in another place in the middle of the airport with 2 ground crew still on board. The new crew sat in the front portion of the plane, behind the red curtain, laughing and joking
8.20am - One of the passengers, a Mr. Chew, got up from his seat to approach the crew to find out what was happening. He was told that there was no pilot and the new crew said that they had just arrived from Delhi and were only told to sit in to board us on the plane. Anoother crew member, a Mr. Narin Singh, openly said that there was no pilot and he was there to bring the plane to where it was currently parked (in the middle of the airport). When pressed for confirmation, he declined to comment. However, it was very clear that Air Asia had moved the airplane without a qualified pilot on board!
9.20am - The plane finally took off for Korea

The delaying tactics employed by Air Asia was obvious. On top of all that, the passengers were subjected to rude treatment and thuggish behaviour from the ground crew and staff of Air Asia. When a disagreement arose between two Korean ladies and the ground crew at approximately 5.30am, passenger Mr. Chew recorded the incident on his handphone, but he was subsequently threatened and browbeatened by the Air Asia security to delete the video or else his mobile phone would be confiscated.

To date, there has been no effort from Air Asia to reach out to its customers and at least make an attempt to compensate everyone for the ordeal they suffered at the hands of Air Asia. We have never received any official answer on the reason for the delay. From what we had found out verbally, someone in Air Asia forgot to ask for clearance through Taipei air space, which sparked off the whole fiasco.

I am writing this to you in the hopes that our experience on board Air Asia X flight D7 2686 will be shared with your readers. Was all these hassle and stress worth the price of a cheap ticket? My answer, and the answer of all my fellow passengers would be, a resounding No.

More than that, seeing how shabbily Air Asia treated its guests that night, how they verbally accosted the Korean passengers who were struggling to speak English, I can honestly say, I felt an emotion I had never felt in my lifetime - I was embarassed to be Malaysian because Air Asia is a Malaysian company.

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written by n.n, September 24, 2011 08:00:16

one has to understand tht ist a budget airline. air asia has many other good things, nevertheless what happen here was not good and is not acceptable.. however.... the same ppl every year... do travel with air asia... and i am sure tony does not know about every single things...
if you want cheap flight.... travel with air asia.. if not... then dont.. smilies/wink.gif

-4

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written by big mama, September 21, 2011 19:10:42

Airasia sucks big time. When I burned my tickets a couple of times, I could not get back my airport tax
refund even.
Yes, I will definitely check out other airlines when flying overseas.
Their food sucks big time as well.
Hey toy nee fernandez, your management and organisation sucks big time.
FLY ANYTHING BUT AIRASIA.

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written by LMK, September 21, 2011 17:29:38

Over the years, I have found that writing to AirAsia or a public letter does not work well or at all.
Air Aisa will just ignore letter. Try to hit them hard where it hurts more or the most

For example, AirAsia and Mr Fernandez have been winning awards after awards for best low-cost airlines / entrepreneur. Write to organizations like Skytrax and give the airline very low ratings
Write to [Euromoney let them know why you think they don't deserve the Best Managed Co award
Make sure you copy Air Asia your letters

If that too does not work, check their annual report. They have many foreign institutional shareholders who may value customer feedback, moral and ethical principles, CSR etc. Write to them

If all of us unite, I am very sure the company will sit up and listen.

Being a budget airline does not mean one has the right to treat customers shabilly or make them wait hours for flights!!! Or cancel flights as and when one likes

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written by gotethix, September 21, 2011 13:39:54

I always find it amusing that people complain about AA in terms of flight delay. You have to realise that you are buying ticket from a budget airlines who I think in the terms and conditions did say that they do not promise that the flight will be on time, if at all it will ever take off. Get it in your head that it is a BUDGET airline and it is you who wish to spend less instead of paying for a more guaranteed satisfaction from non-budget airlines. You don't go to a mamak store for a steak and expect a good cut.

Nevertheless, the rude handling of passengers is not acceptable. That should be reprimanded.

-2

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written by Lim, September 21, 2011 12:10:58

Post it their facebook & let more people know abt it.

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written by ..., September 21, 2011 11:25:07

MAS is already falling if not saved by AA. there's too many behind the scenes stories that had not published to the publics. they are going down any minute.

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written by RinggitSense, September 21, 2011 10:53:41

High time that Malaysians know the real Tony Fernandez.

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written by laparbeb, September 21, 2011 02:07:00

nasi lemak air asia.....yak...

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written by rickyG, September 20, 2011 21:38:37

Air Asia (AA) cannot continue to give cheap cheap cheap flights. At one point it will end. In such a short time, it bought new planes and is spending much to pay for loans, for expansion and sports' sponsorship. I suspect, corrupt funds into it may no more be flowing in & is in deep shit.

Perhaps so AA has to team-up with MAS & having management say will ensure continue funding for Air Asia, the equation as such - rakyat's tax money to MAS out flowing to AA. MAS will forever be lost making to feed AA. MAS is our national carrier that must not be allowed to shutdown. In this scenario, even if, AA was to charge RM100/- flat to half of the passengers in each flight around Asean, it will still make tons of money...

Losses is MAS's baby & the Malaysians' curse, while AA reports huge profits year on year.

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written by Short changed, September 20, 2011 20:00:44

Day light robbery at its best! I bought the insurance coverage on booking with AA and when I submitted a claim for delayed flight, the insurer insisted on some sort of a letter of confirmation from the airline that the flight was delayed. After countless calls and emails, I could not secure the letter and had to forgo the claim as by then I have busted the claim period.

Surely when a flight is delayed, the airline should ensure that the cheap skate letters are issued to passengers on board without their asking. I mean, how should I know that the letter is required for making a claim as this was not even announced on board.

It was very unfortunate of me to face the same incident twice and on the second occassion, I requested for the letter and after a lot of waiting and arguing, I finally got it.

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written by Told You So, September 20, 2011 19:18:27

Now everyone can cry!

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written by Pakciku, September 20, 2011 18:30:28

It's an indonesian base already.... no more malaysian base company....

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written by Anti F1, September 20, 2011 18:04:10

Tony knows how to treat cheapskates who fly AA plus he has friends in very high places.

The only way to punish AA is not to fly with them in the future. After alll, is your safety, dignity and comfort only worth that RM50 or even say RM500 in savings?

Same with the BN abolish the Tol. is your dignity only worth RM1 per day?

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written by Awang Kuku, September 20, 2011 13:38:21

To be honest, I have not had many unhappy incidences with AirAsia. Two things that got me mad was one, how the counter staff insisted on charging my elderly sister extra baggage kg. She was 64 years old, and only had 2.5 kg excess. The other when I was stop for carrying an extra hand luggage (I had one 18-inch trolley bag, and one computer bag). What irked me was a Mat-Salleh and his wife had 5 luggage - 2 large back-packs, 2 hand carried bags, and a big plastic bag, were allowed in. What is this? Racist or fear of Whites?

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written by satuan, September 20, 2011 12:28:27

My parents aged 75 were both refused the prebooked meals on flight DELHI-KL 31th April 2011.
My mom misplaced the boarding passes..My dad produced their flight itenary to show booked meals...but the crew did not budge....no apologies forthcoming...... My loving parents were hungry and tired after a long wait and journey from the village.. This is how Mr TONY buys football teams by saving on meals for senior citizens..retired govt servants. Never again make the mistake by flying Air ASIA. NOW ALL SENIOR CITIZENS CAN GO HUNGRY ON AIR ASIA.

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written by Taikohtai, September 20, 2011 11:02:01

AirAsia flies to a few destinations in Australia under the jurisdiction of CASA.
My verdict is that they are okay - perhaps because Australia do not take lightly to any shortcuts. Tiger Air got suspended 6 months for flouting some maintenance rules. And also we are a proud country of whingers , so I think Tony is a bit worried if he has thousands of Aussies going Oi! Oi! Oi! smilies/wink.gif

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written by arazak, September 20, 2011 10:49:36

Folks,
And that idiot monkey Tony Fernandez who trained his staff to be rude like monkeys is now having a high stake in MAS. He and his crew will bring his monkey rude culture into MAS in due time!

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written by Don Corleone, September 20, 2011 10:46:00

I fly AirAsia regularly as it is the cheapest around, and one can't really complain much about the lack of service if you haven't paid for it. However, the safety of the passengers is paramount, and no shortcuts should be taken with properly maintained aircraft, and properly rested pilots. I find it worrisome when AirAsia does not take heed about complaints like this one.

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written by Atheist, September 20, 2011 10:39:43

airasia is not cheap and borderlines on questionable fare schemes that are more expensive in total. If this is how airasia shows loyalty .... then who wants to be loyal to the country anymore ...... more like the politicians .... I'm in power ... I do as i like ......... smilies/angry.gif

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written by syd, September 20, 2011 10:15:11

very unfortunate, but strange.
All airasia X planes are new. Are they flying with just enough fuel for the KL-Incheon flight, and a typhoon was in their flight path, so they had not enough fuel for diversion and were not authorised by management to load more for emergency detour to save cost?
Sounds liike MAS during the time of Tajuddin Ramli when the Britisgh airport authority gave them warnings about their low fuel load when they landed at heathrow. If they were forced to divert, maybe insufficient fuel to fly anywhere else.

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written by educationist, September 20, 2011 09:41:09

Very true, michatan & they are those who do not buy Air Asia.
Yet, the bottom line is once, we bought Air Asia tickets , we are its paying customers.
If if it's a low cost airline, air Asia cannot ignore its social and moral responsibilities to its customers in a case like this!!

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written by benjo, September 20, 2011 09:38:44

I think Airasia is very arrogant. It reflects on the leadership. I have emailed a complain over a almost 10 hour delay in the flight some 3 years ago where my whole family was stuck in the airport. Have sent them reminders and to-date they have not even acknowledged. Imagine they never/don't respond to phone calls and now they charge us for calling them. How do we ever get to them if we have a problem or complain ? The only thing they are efficient about is issuing ticket months and years in advance and collecting the payment from you way in advance. Shame on them. My preference is still MAS. If only they can lower their fees to be competitive with airasia...

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written by mt31aug, September 20, 2011 09:38:11

This same culture of AA will slowly filter down to MAS later

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written by michatan2000, September 20, 2011 08:15:25

The only reason passengers fly Air Asia is because it is cheap and cheap skate. Air Asia knows that too. So it is actually willing buyer, willing seller. You don't have to buy if you are not willing.

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written by educationist, September 20, 2011 05:17:45

It is an incident like this that show the sort of company Air Asia is!!!
Shame on you Air Asia for ill treating your paying customers in this manner!!

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written by AntiBN, September 20, 2011 01:53:02

I have always tried to avoid flying Airasia. Somehow, I just don't feel comfortable with Airasia. I have only flown Airasia once in my life.

My take is try other airlines first, even if it's a bit expensive, before booking Airasia.

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written by OrangKaya, September 20, 2011 00:09:08

MAS WILL GO DOWN THE SAME WAY AS AIRASIA, FROM THE POT INTO THE FIRE!!

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written by SiHangChai, September 19, 2011 23:17:10

Now, everyone can fly by not taking AirAsia. There are many cheap air fares far cheaper than AirAsia offered by commercial airlines such as KLM, Emirates, China Airline if you book ahead. AirAsia by standard is more expensive than Firefly. Comparatively, if you compare the same route both airlines are flying, Firefly had beaten AirAsia so comfortably. One thing I hated the most with AirAsia is I always given at the last row seat where the plane engine is running while taxing, you can smell the CO2 in the plane itself. The food is far expensive and horrible. I stopped ordering the food even on 5 hours flight.

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written by Chuan, September 19, 2011 23:15:08

Hey... how can this article be true? TONY FERNANDEZ is ONE of Malaysia's most RESPECTED entrepreneur! This article can't be true! I refuse to believe this author. This story has been fabricated to taint the image of one of the legendary rag-to-riches Malaysian businessman.

Cough...cough...sarcasm intended.